Humans and our primate relatives differ in many ways, but the fact we walk on two legs is one of the most obvious. Precisely how our ancestors evolved that trait is a well-debated mystery. Now, there’s a new idea. What if one of the contributing factors was giant explosions in the sky? It’s not as

Nature is constantly posing for that perfect shot. Many of us might be lucky to see it, but few are ever in the right position to capture the moment. Canadian photographer Steve Biro happened to be at the right place at just the right time. The result is a stunning image of a bald eagle

WASHINGTON — NASA believes it is still possible to perform the first launch of the Space Launch System before the end of 2020 even if the agency decides to retain some version of a key static-fire test of the rocket’s core stage. Speaking at a May 28 meeting of the NASA Advisory Council’s human exploration

New York City Clean Air Taxi rules are successful in cutting emissions and reducing air pollution, according to a new study by researchers at the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health and Drexel University. Between 2009 and 2015, the legislation more than doubled the fuel efficiency of the fleet of 13,500 yellow taxis, leading

New research focuses on filamentous microbes that make their living in hot springs and catalyze the formation of travertine rock. Credit: Photo by Bruce W. Fouke A rover scanning the surface of Mars for evidence of life might want to check for rocks that look like pasta, researchers report in the journal Astrobiology. The bacterium

Let’s face it – compared to Mars, our planet is a biological paradise dripping with moisture and relative absence of toxic chemistry. If we want to know what life might look like on the Red Planet, we need to go hunting in extreme environments. Ethiopia’s Dallol geothermal area could qualify. Minerals from one of the

A strange feature on the surface of Mars has kept scientists guessing about its origin. It’s a surface deposit of a mineral which is more common in the interiors of planets. A new study shows that this interior mineral was probably brought to the surface by an ancient explosive volcano. Nili Fossae is located in

Between 1990 and 2005, the Philippines lost 32.3 percent of its forest cover. Illegal logging has historically been a huge issue for the country, but now the Philippines House of Representatives has put forward a new way of dealing with the problem: a bill that requires students to plant 10 trees each before graduating. House Bill

WASHINGTON — More than a month after a Crew Dragon spacecraft was destroyed in a test of its propulsion system, NASA and SpaceX investigators are still working to determine the cause of the accident and its implications for upcoming test flights. In a May 28 presentation to the NASA Advisory Council’s human exploration and operations

Total solar eclipse will last for double the duration of the last time A total solar eclipse is about to occur once again on July 2. If you missed out on the total solar eclipse that happened in August 2017, this is another chance for people to be able to see the celestial spectacle once

Human bodies cannot function properly above a certain altitude. We work best at sea level, where oxygen levels are adequate for our brains and lungs. But if climbers want to summit Mount Everest, the tallest peak in the world at 29,029 feet (8,848 meters or 5.5 miles) above sea level, they have to brave what’s

You wouldn’t ordinarily want to seek out a computer with viruses installed, but that’s exactly what the winner of a US$1.345 million auction just did – picking up a laptop crammed with the deadliest malware of our time in return for their cash. The buyer remains anonymous but we know much more about the laptop,

WASHINGTON — Citing a need for closer collaboration amid growing global competition, leaders from the 28-member European Union and the 22-member European Space Agency convened on Tuesday their first joint space council session since 2011. The EU-ESA Space Council will seek to meet once a year going forward, Pedro Francisco Duque, Spain’s minister for science,

There’s no sense in sugar-coating it – Venus is a hellish place! It is the hottest planet in the Solar System, with atmospheric temperatures that are hot enough to melt lead. The air is also a toxic plume, composed predominantly of carbon dioxide and sulfuric acid rain clouds. And yet, scientists hypothesize that Venus was

There are a handful of major science institutions around the world that keep track of the Earth’s temperature. They all clearly show that the world’s temperature has risen in the past few decades. One of those institutions is NASA. NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Science Studies (GISS) is located in New York City. Recently, they

BUDAPEST (Reuters) – Hungary is preparing legislation to strip the Hungarian Academy of Sciences of its research network, giving the government more control over scientific activity, the news website index.hu reported on Tuesday. FILE PHOTO: People raise red cards to protest against government’s plans to overhaul the Hungarian Academy of Sciences outside the Ministry for

The sampling site. Samples were taken from the central yellow outcrop and water from the blue pool at the bottom of the chimney. Credit: Felipe Gomez/Europlanet The first study of ultra-small bacteria living in the extreme environment of Ethiopia’s Dallol hot springs shows that life can thrive in conditions similar to those thought to have

Credit: M. de la Nougerede, UCL/MSSL This may look like a collection of colorful contact lenses, and in some respects there are some similarities: these are the filters through which the ExoMars rover—named Rosalind Franklin—will view Mars in visible and near infrared wavelengths. They are pictured here in their individual transport cases, before they were